Thankful for our church, Mazabuka Community Church!

We are blessed to be a part of this church family! Over the last three years we have grown in our unity/love for each other, hunger for God and even grown in numbers! We r thankful for how God is stretching us and teaching us through these relationships!

So great to have the whole gang back together again after 3 months!

Planting Season

Nov 25th was Maize planting day for us! Following Foundations for Farming for the third year, is always a step of faith.....planting with no rain clouds in sight! But God as always has been faithful and we will continue to trust and follow Him through this awesome program! Gods promise is not in the rains but in the Harvest! Please pray for an abundant rainy season this year!!

Night of Worship!

The last Tuesday of every month we have a night of worship at church! Gods presence is so evident. Those that come spiritually hungry are fed by His presence! It's a small group, but we can definitely dance/sing/shout from the Rooftops!

A visit with the chiefteness!

Last week we visited our good friend, Chiefteness Mwenda! She is a blessing to us in so many ways and she is a spiritual mother to us. With the land she has given us in her village, Ngangula, we have been able to bless the children with a kids camp, have clothing distributions, show the Jesus film and start the agricultural program Foundations For Farming. Our next projects consist of building a large thatched hut meetings area, drilling a well and building small houses for short term team visits! We are excited for all that God is doing and what He will do in the future on this property! We are thankful for this beautiful chief who loves her God, us and her people!

One Month Countdown

It's definitely feeling real as the one month countdown begins.....our friends, neighbors and ministry partners....the Roberts Family, heads back to the states Nov 14th. Please pray for them as they prepare to go home and as we transition into this new season also! Thx so much!

My name sake!

Little Elise came to visit me today! She just turned 2 and is so stinking cute!

Luke is in the States!

On Thur we said goodbye for 6 weeks to Luke! He is going to visit family, reconnect with supporters & churches and bring the big three kids back home to Zambia December 2nd! I hope many of you can connect with him during his visits to Chicago, Dallas and North Carolina!

Some pics from our SA trip!

Our visit to South Africa

Luke and I and Avery had a great two weeks in South Africa. We drove so we were flexible in visiting several churches and friends. It was a beautiful drive through the Garden Route! We were able to connect with The Storehouse Church in Port Elizabeth, His People Church in Grahamstown, friends in Knysna and we attended The Every Nation His People Leaders Summit Conference in Cape Town. Our church, Mazabuka Community Church was planted many years ago from His People Joburg and we are so blessed to continue this partnership. The conference was such an encouragement to us. Building relationships with other pastors/leaders from other churches is a huge priority to us, so we enjoyed connecting with so many of them on this trip! We are expectant for several of visitors/teams in the next couple years from these churches! Thanks for your prayers for during our trip!

Sent from my iPhone

Celebrating Luke!

Happy 34th!!! We love you!!

Celebrating the bday boy in Lusaka!

An afternoon visit to the elephant orphanage!

We had a great time with Chichi and Tazi visiting the four baby ellies and hearing their stories! What a great project!

Two of the four baby elephants.

Big kids off to America!

We said "see you in December" to Macie, Emma and Payton this past week! What awesome adventures they will have...the house is very quiet without them!

May through Aug update:

May through Aug update:

     Hello family and friends!!!

The winter is ending here in Zambia and come October, we will be sweating again.  It's not quite like a Chicago winter, but we have had to break out our long sleeves and many evenings are spent around the camp fire. Winter means no rain, few bugs, wild winds, and the beautiful view of green wheat fields from the neighboring farms. Hot season brings the rains, bugs, gorgeous sunsets and the green lush tropical plants! Both the seasons are magnificent in their own ways and are a beautiful reflection of our amazing Creator.

May was an exhilarating month for us as we hosted the Love Africa team from South Carolina. The weeks prior were filled with lots of shopping, planning and excitement for their arrival. The team consisted of 12 college students from different states (mostly South Carolina) and it was led by Nathan and Levacy Smith and their 2 daughters, Gracie and Sofie. The team was not only able to do some great sightseeing in Livingstone, a safari and even bunji jumping, but they also held a 4 day kids camp out on our village property, called Ngangula. The kid's camp ministered to over 1100 kids over those four days who have not had much interaction with white people. It was cool to see all the kids get so excited each day as we all returned.  The team also shared a meal with the head men in the village, ministered at the local village church and a few of the nurses held a first aid clinic for the children.

The team brought props such as ropes for tug of war, a big colorful parachute, a tarp with holes cut into it for playing different ball games, all sorts of balls and much more. The team members shared their testimonies, sang songs and loved on these kids. It was great getting to know each one of them and hear their stories around the camp fire each night. God did a lot of awesome things in their hearts and in the village kids they ministered to.

In June we had a sweet reunion visit with our friends and old team mates, the Allen's. They lived in our old neighbor hood in Lusaka and they have five beautiful daughters. They have been back in America for 2 ½ years and their visit was a sweet time of fellowship for us all.

Also Luke's dad, Drew made a surprise visit. He surprised Luke and the kids on Father's Day, by walking into church as I was announcing some special fathers in our congregation. It was a very fun three weeks with him. We played lots of cards all together, went on a four day get away to see animals, had great talks, bonfires and the kids slept in the container with him almost every night. We are so blessed to have had that time with him and new special memories.

The end of July/beginning of Aug. we also hosted another smaller team of four guys for two weeks, from the Love Africa organization. They did a few soccer camps/outreaches, Bible teaching, painted our church and held a kid's camp on our farm. We had a great time of ministry and fellowship with them. We are thrilled at our new connection this year with Love Africa and look forward to have three or more teams come same time next year. It's a blessing to us to have these teams come and help us do both practical mercy ministry and also minister to the spiritual needs of the people here. We are passionate about teams because that is where God impacted our hearts for overseas missions and we want to spur others on toward what God is calling them to do!!

               

Mid August we had friends from Texas, the Binkley's visit us for four days. They are involved in ministry in Zimbabwe and decided to come see us on their trip too. We had a great time of fellowship and enjoyed showing our life and ministry to them. We are thrilled to be partnering with them and Trinity Cedar Hill School to build a lapa, (large thatched gathering hut) on our village property that the chieftenness has given us. This lapa will allow us to do more ministry and hold more gatherings out in this rural area.  This new partnership is exciting and we will keep you updated on the building of this new

We are also very excited to share that our oldest three kids, Macie, Emma and Payton will be visiting the States and going to school during the fall. They will fly on their own, leaving here next week, Sept 2^nd and will return with Luke Dec 2^nd. Luke will be visiting and connecting with family, friends, churches and supporters during the month of November.  It has been 2 ½ years since Luke and the kids have been back to the states and we feel it's important for them to reconnect.  On the other hand, we have some sad news that our ministry partners here The Roberts, will be leaving us in November and moving back to the States. We are excited for the new opportunities that God is bringing their way, but they will be missed here in Chikankata. Their departure does affect our ministry and support and so that is another reason Luke feels the need to make a visit to America.

On the church front (Mazabuka Community Church…an hour into town), Luke continues to preach most Sundays, and is doing a great job of challenging and leading our leadership team. We have seen growth, a hunger for God and the white and black races coming together to worship! We are blessed to have a few new families that have moved to our community in the last year. They have really encouraged us and also helped in very practical ways! We have quite the team and really are excited about what God is doing and will do in and through our church.

Closer to home, Kerri Roberts and I continue to lead a weekly women's Bible study for our neighboring white farmer's wives and we feel so encouraged and close to this group of ladies. We also have a once a month tea/Bible study for the local ladies on our farm and although the language barrier is quite large we enjoy this interaction with our Tonga friends! 

Well, that's a brief update of the past few months. Thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are humbled and thankful to be here, serving God and loving the people groups of Zambia.

Blessings,

Elise for the Whitfield family! 

visit our website: http://www.eleeoproject.org

visit our blog: http://www.whitfieldwateringhole.blogspot.com

skype id: taziona6

Happy Birthday Payton and Emma!

Ladies Tea!

I love these ladies passion and beautiful voices!

Giving out lollipops at the end of camp!!

Tazi and Emma playing with their group!

Macie and Gracyn

Singing and dancing

Water Valley kids camp!

Our second Love Africa team is here!!!

Our gate!

This is a very simple picture of our gate but what it represents to me is something very special. At this gate people are fed, sores are bandaged, clothes are passed out, people are healed, lives are touched through the power of God and many prayers are prayed! We have reoccurring visitors and new visitors coming in search of love.......love can come in many forms. I hope people walk away from this gate having felt the presence of Our Savior and His deep love for them. It's a privilege to be here in Chikankata and I'm humbled at the opportunities God gives us. It's all about HIM!

Zambian music video!

This is definitely a first for us.......a local church choir shot a music video in our yard! If u look closely Macie and Payton joined in! Never a dull moment here!!

New Friends

We are thankful for all sorts of friends here in Mazabuka! This week we visited some new friends that run a tannery and we got a great tour! Payton and Tazi loved "riding" the friendly bull!

The Drunk Police Man Grabbed The Boy

.....the drunk police man grabbed the boy and began to drag him to the awaiting car. What are you doing.......where are you taking him?, I shouted......no response. As I followed the taxi to the dilapidated police station on the other side of town.....I thought, this is the moment where Michael gets to see IT lived out. He gets to experience what relationship in the Kingdom of Heaven looks like. Michael would witness what it means to be PURSUED......the idea of someone moving TOWARDS him rather than away from him in response to his offensive behavior. Now I am not tooting my own spiritual horn.....because God knows my approach inside the police post was anything but Christlike......but as I advocated for Michael's release I began to realize just how foreign this model of relationship is in the world that we live. Not only was there surprise on Michael's face.....but it became clear, from the reaction of the officers, that the idea of anyone willingly hanging around this kid was the farthest thing from sanity. Do you know this boy.........do you know what he is......what he is guilty of, stated one of the officers. No......and it does not matter.......I know him, was my reply.

See Michael.... is one of the many street kids that occupy the streets in the city of Mazabuka where we live. Recently, it has become clear that not only is Michael a street kid....pick pocket...con artist....liar......but he is sort of what you would call the ring leader of a group of street boys. Perfect.......we only find this out after we have started bringing him to church on Sundays. And since then we have had to continuously deal with the messiness of bringing someone who is not like "us" into our fellowship.........fights between street boys while church is going on.........sugar spoons at the tea table being used to stir tea......licked and then placed.......yep you guessed in...... back into the sugar bowl. But you know.... peeking out behind all the blown opportunities......all the words and corrections spoken in anger and frustration.....is a revelation that this is how it is suppose to be. We are humans....we make messes.....but it is in how we respond to that messiness....our next move after encountering offensiveness......that reveals what we have experienced in relationship with our Heavenly Father.  Romans 5:8, But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. And there it is.......and its all through The Word.....God's model of relationship. That in pursuit of seeing the greatness He has placed inside of every being ever created in His IMAGE live out in their lives.........He is willing to move towards their messiness.

That's the model we are willing to spend ourselves to promote here in Southern Zambia. There are many "Michaels" here in Africa and throughout the world.....we firmly believe that our call, as His Daughters & Sons,  is to focus on building relationships that pursue....that move towards those struggling to find love.....acceptance and to learn who He has created them to be. Whether it be through Agricultural Development, Kids Camps, Short Term Teams, Local Church Development, Discipleship or simply to bandage the wound of a visitor at the gate.....we long for others to see the Jesus in us and discover the Jesus in them.

Michael is just the tip of what God is doing here in Southern Zambia through our partnership.  At the heart of each of these relationships is the dream of seeing a people without an identity put on the revelation of what is means to be His Child.....that is happening more and more each day. If you would like more information on how to get involved with Eleeo Project here in Central Africa you can do so by following us on Facebook at Eleeo Project. There is not a testimony we experience here without a profound appreciation for the fact that you sacrifice to make it possible......for that we are eternally grateful.  The best is yet to come....

With Love & Honor

The Whitfields <><

Our Property!

Many of you have asked us what it's like living in the bush. So I thought I would share a bit about our home here! The last two years we have been renting our home from a white Zambian Farmer. We have the privilege of living in the midst of beautiful wheat fields (in the winter April-Aug) and soy bean fields (in the summer Oct-March). Our view each morning out our living room window consist of rolling hills and dispersed grass/mud huts. It's quiet, calm and the pace of life is quite slow. We live life among the Tongas that live/work on our landlords farm. We also enjoy friendships with the other white farmers around us! We are blessed to have both! Just thought I would share a glimpse of our life here on this beautiful property, called
Water Valley!

Our back veranda

Our view

A Great 4 day get-away!

Last week we had a relaxing and fun 4 days down in Chongwe.....Lower Zambezi with Luke's Dad, Drew. We saw hundreds of elephants, impala, zebra, warthog, hippos, crocs, lots of birds and more. We enjoyed camping, bon fires, roasting marshmallows, fishing and God's beautiful creation!

MCC

Mazabuka Community Church is our home church and this past Sunday I was on for teaching big kids Sunday school! I am so excited at what God is doing and how He's growing our roots deep here in Maz! We are blessed to be a part of this community and I'm thankful for our church family here!

Little Elise!

Some of you might remember the baby that was named after me...almost 2 years ago. Her family moved off the farm this year, but her mom came back a few months ago to say hello! She is not too sure of me (the Muzungu...white lady) but she's precious!

Tonga Ladies Tea

We continue every month to have our ladies tea for the village ladies on our farm. This is not only a great way to encourage them in their faith and pray for them, but also get to know them by name! I'm always blessed every month by their testimonies and beautiful music!

Playing catch up!

This week I'll be highlighting the last six months. I have been very bad at blogging this year, so I'm doing a bit of catching up for you all! Also Facebook is another great way to keep in touch with us!!!

We had a great family holiday in South Africa in Feb! We so enjoyed the beach and time away as a family!!

Surprise!!!

This past Sunday we had a very unexpected surprise (Hint the bald guy us our grandpa!!). Last Sunday we were celebrating Father's Day and both my mom and our neighbors mom Kerri Roberts were handing out gift bags to the dads...congratulating them for the father with the oldest child, the father with the most kids(of course my dad got that one), the father who has the closest birthday to Father's Day, and then they pulled out the question of who's the father that's traveled the farthest. We were all thinking what's that supposed to mean? How are we supposed to figure that one out? But of course you couldn't hear the question with all moms crying going on. We were all like why are you crying? Then the best thing happened! Our papa walked in the door! We were so exited at first none of us recognized him, but then we realized it was him and we ran into his arms. Now he's been here for a week today and we have been having so much fun with him. We are so exited he's here for another 2 weeks! I really wish our whole family could be here now:(Miss you all so much:(
Thanks for taking the time to listen bloggers!

Love Macie<3
P.s I'm blogging with my parents now!!
Sent from my I Phone

Surprise!

"I am well...so I am going home"

A few weeks ago Luke was praying at the local clinic with Arnold and Daddi (the two Tonga men pictured above) when they bumped into Florence. She was in a lot of pain and could hardly breathe....the guys prayed for her body....soul and spirit to be healed in Jesus name.....and she starts to laugh as she begins to describe that all the pain....the fever....the shortness of breathe was gone. Arnold and Daddi can't believe it and stand with mouths wide open.....then without warning Florence starts walking home. "Wait...where are you going", Daddi asks? "I came to receive treatment....but Jesus has healed me....I am well.....so I am going home", Florence replies!

This is not just Florence's testimony.....it belongs to all of you who faithfully continue partnering with us to see live touched by the Great Physician! The best is yet to come.....